Nonsense Books · Chapter
Conclusion explained
The seven couples jump into pickling bottles, die, and are preserved to be displayed in a museum in Tosh for public contemplation.
What happens
The seven couples jump into pickling bottles, die, and are preserved to be displayed in a museum in Tosh for public contemplation.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Rising action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
Lady Jingly’s tearful confession that she already has a mate in England delivers the emotional peak of unfulfi…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Nonsense and Absurdity
The absurd premise of couples pickling themselves and being displayed in a museum epitomizes Lear's nonsensical humor.
- Mortality and Loss
The characters' immediate death and preservation as pickled specimens highlights themes of mortality and the absurdity of legacy.
Key passages
“And after this they filled the bottles with the ingredients for pickling, and each couple jumped into a separate bottle; by which effort, of course, they all died immediately, and became thoroughly pickled in a few minutes; having previously made their wills (by the assistance of the most eminent lawyers of the district), in which they left strict orders that the stoppers of the seven bottles should be carefully sealed up with the blue sealing-wax they had purchased; and that they themselves, in the bottles, should be presented to the principal museum of the city of Tosh, to be labelled with parchment or any other anti-congenial succedaneum, and to be placed on a marble table with silver-gilt legs, for the daily inspection and contemplation, and for the perpetual benefit, of the pusillanimous public.”
After preparing pickling ingredients, each couple jumped into a bottle, died instantly, and became pickled. They had made wills instructing that their sealed bottles be donated to the Tosh museum, labeled appropriately, and displayed on a marble table for public viewing.
Summarizes the absurd and macabre conclusion of the chapter.
